DENISE Hale might be less popular in San Francisco’s high-society circles with the release of a jolting new memoir by her stepdaughter, which depicts her as a “vindictive and irrational” woman who stole her dad from her mom and fought his kids for his vast wealth. Since “Beyond His Control: Memories of a Disobedient Daughter” by tennis star Linda Hale Bucklin (who ranked No. 1 in the nation in mixed doubles in the over-60 group last year) hit stores, “everyone on the social register has gotten a copy, and suddenly she isn’t being invited to a number of events,” our spy says. Denise was married to movie director Vincente Minnelli when she started seeing Prentis Hale, a married millionaire businessman, whose wife then committed suicide under mysterious circumstances. Bucklin writes that Serbian-born Denise then wed Prentis, estranged him from his family and ended up sole heir to his estate. “Denise had no compunctions about calling me greedy and ungrateful . . . She made herself out to be the protector of his good name from his ungrateful and greedy children,” Bucklin writes. Calls to Denise’s office were not returned.